The Spotlight Thief
by readingqueen811
Summary: WARNING: WILL INCLUDE SONGS Movie star Percy Jackson has been used to getting what he wanted, except for one thing: a normal life. Now a director is giving him that chance: One semester at Valerie Academy and he can get the leading role in the movie. Percy finds himself in a new place where no one cares about his movies and he's in love with a girl he likes and one he hates.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**** This story will have a ****_ton, _****I mean a ****_ton_**** of songs in it, like one every chapter. If you don't like song lyrics (although there will be tons of description in between the lyrics and it won't just be song lyrics) go away now, because I've already given this warning and if you complain about it to me in the reviews, I will completely ignore you. Also, for some songs there will be videos you can watch to get more of an idea of the choreography that I am trying to describe in the story. Links will be available under the Author's Note at the beginning of every chapter in which they are necessary. I do not own PJO, High School Musical, Wicked, Rent, Fame, or any of the other musicals/songs that are mentioned/have lyrics in this story.**

**Thank you,**

**Readingqueen811:**

**Link: http;/www,youtube,com/watch?v=xDo5FgLxr60**

**Chapter's Song: Valerie by Amy Winehouse (as performed by Glee in their 3D Concert Movie)**

The Spotlight Thief

Percy Jackson was successful, there's no denying that. He had everything he could ever have wanted. He had a nice home for his mother, a career where he could lie all the time, and girls screaming his name every day, although that did make him flustered. There couldn't be anything more he wanted. Wait…. Scratch that… There was something else he wanted, and he knew it as soon as his ADHD brain darted back into the conversation that his manager, Veronica was having with the producer of the next big movie he was trying to get booked in.

"Now, Mr. Anderson," Veronica said firmly, determined that she would receive clear answers and no funny business."I'm sure Mr. Jacksons previous credentials make it pretty clear that he is _more_ than qualified to star in your movie; why do you need someone who comes from Valerie when your perfect candidate is standing right here?"

"As I told you, Ms. Jensen," Mr. Anderson replied, "although _Mr. Jackson's_ credentials may show that he is more than capable of both singing and acting, he seems to have no skills at dancing whatsoever, and even a first year Valerie student could give me all three: the perfect triad."

"I'd go to school." Percy butted in, it wasn't really his place, but the one thing that he didn't have at that point was a _normal_ life, with school and girlfriends and all that stuff he pretended to have in his movies.

"Young man," Mr. Anderson stared at him as if Percy had just spoke in Japanese. "_Valerie Academy for the Performing Arts_ is not just _any_ school, it is the _pinnacle _of talent the…"

"The boy's right!" Veronica half-exclaimed. "_You yourself_ said that a first year Valerie student could play the part, so why not? One semester at Valerie should do the trick, and you haven't even announced this movie yet, so there'd be no date-pushing back or anything like that. Why, not Mr. Anderson?"

"I suppose I could give him a chance," Mr. Anderson replied, "but he'd have to audition for the role like all the other students."

Percy nearly doubled over in excitement, he couldn't believe his ears. For the first time since he was nine he would get to go to an _actual_ school and be an _actual_ student, who cared about the part, by the end of the semester, the only thing he would care about was his life, not what Veronica wanted, or what the fans wanted, just him.

Percy couldn't believe his eyes as his tour guide, Hylla, led him and his mom around the school. It was absolutely beautiful, and the teachers all seemed so nice, not to mention there were at least five stages inside the school from what he saw. There was one in the cafeteria, one each for the dance, drama, and song majors, and finally the giant stage where Hylla was leading him. The auditorium was almost full when they got there, so Hylla handed them off to an usher, who had the nametag "Lacy Wilkins" on her light pink shirt, who led them to some seats in the balcony area, and they sat there, waiting for the show to start.

His mind wandered as the Principal, Mr. D, talked to the about-to-be students about something or other, probably having to do with working hard, etc. Percy just wanted to see an example of the fabled talent that these students had. He wanted to see what he would become like in the upcoming semester. He wanted to see who he would be friends with, or a boyfriend to, or any of those other things having to do with high school relationships that he'd never had before.

The lights began to dim once Mr. D began to close his speech. Percy sat on the edge of seat in anticipation, just as Mr. D's voice sounded in the loudspeakers, announcing that some of the brightest stars from the upcoming Junior class (where Percy would be placed) were about to perform. The lights went back up to reveal a smiling blonde girl wearing a magenta polo and a short black skirt, who was holding a microphone to her lips. The crowd nearly went crazy when the girl began to sing, clicking her knee-high black high heel boots on the stage as she walked towards the audience, where she received a similar reaction that Percy did whenever he came out of his limo for a premier.

_Well sometimes I go out by myself_

_And I look across the water_

Percy couldn't believe how talented this girl was, her voice was amazing. He'd been performing with tons of celebrity singers who were older than her for years now, yet she was his age, and somehow better than most of them. Not to mention, she was gorgeous, and although he was all the way up in the balcony, he could see her grey eyes sparkling at him from all the way down on the stage. Unlike the countless older celebrities Percy had sung with in his career, this girl seemed to shine out from the stage like she was actually having a blast, instead of seeing performing as just another job. Not to mention that she was beautiful- even from his seat in the fair back of the auditorium, he could spot out her grey eyes, sparkling brightly past the stage. Another girl came onstage behind the grey-eyed girl wearing the same black shirt, but- instead- with a yellow polo and sneakers. Her hair was short, black, and choppy, and she ran behind the blonde girl with… well grace.

_And I think of all the things, what you're doing_

_And in my head I paint a picture_

The girls walked toward each other, showing off their stuff. The blonde girl strutted the stage with confidence like she was a model on the catwalk, and the girl with the black hair fluffed her hair up and walked backwards away from the blonde in an obviously choreographed way, before mimicking taking pictures of the lead singer with her empty hands.

_Cause since I've come on home _

_Well my body's been a mess_

_And I've missed your ginger hair_

_And the way you like to dress_

` All the other people came onstage: three other guys and one more girl to accompany the blonde one. The guys wore matching white shirts with black pants, while the girl who had a braid in her hair wore the same outfit as the black-haired girl, but with a blue polo instead. They started dancing to the beat, and the blonde went over to act-flirt with one of the guys, running her fingers through his golden hair. Percy couldn't help but think to himself, _They look like Barbie and Ken._

_Won't you come on over?_

_Stop making a fool out of me_

_Why don't you come on over Valerie?_

The blonde walked towards the audience, and Percy swore she was looking directly at him as she sang out. The others started doing a fast mix of the twist and the Charleston behind her, swinging each other around so fast that Percy could barely keep up. The dancers started singing backup for the blonde as the music continued, keeping the beat with a soft rhythm, of "da, da, da." The blonde repeated _Valerie_ for several measures before diving back into the verses again.

_Well sometimes I go out by myself_

_And I look across the water_

Her voice got quieter as she sang this, making it sound softer and sweeter. Up until that point, Percy had been kind of scared of the blonde, with her confidence and talent, but the softening of her voice made her seem… well… human. He looked down at his program to see what her name was: _Annabeth Chase_. It had a nice ring to it.

_And I think of all the things, what you're doing_

_And in my head I paint a picture_

This chorus, the blonde joined the fast-paced dance with the rest of them, her head-strapped microphone helping her keep her singing going as she swung her arms back and forth and around her partner, the Ken guy. Percy's mind still wandered, even though he was watching the show, and he wondered if he'd ever end up even being noticed by a girl that talented.

_Cause since I've come on home _

_Well my body's been a mess_

_And I've missed your ginger hair_

_And the way you like to dress_

The guys swung the girls over their shoulders in a fast-paced summersault, and they continued dancing together as if it was no big deal. Percy couldn't believe his eyes, if this was what the dancers at Valerie looked like, he couldn't blame Mr. Anderson for turning him down. Why choose one person with a fraction of what you want, when you can get the whole package and create a rising star in the process?

_Won't you come on over?_

_Stop making a fool out of me_

The girls kicked their legs over the guys heads and then did yet another flip over them, while they were standing up. The guys then spun them around and continued doing the crazy mix of the Charleston and the twist. Annabeth's voice continued rising over the crowd to Percy's ears, and even though she wasn't facing him, he could almost feel her grey eyes piercing themselves into his memory so he could never forget her. The chorus of "da, da, da" and the repetition of Valerie started up again as Annabeth hit her final notes.

_Why don't you come on over Valerie_

_Why don't you come on over Valerie?_

Percy could feel his legs aching as he applauded the students, although he never remembered even standing up to do so. He screamed his heart out along with the audience as the group of performers took their bows.

"Let's give another big round of applause to Ms. Chase, Ms. Grace, Ms. Ramirez-Arellano, Mr. Grace, Mr. Castellan, and Mr. DiAngelo for representing the Junior Class so well," Mr. D. said as he came back up onstage, applauding, although half-heartedly, with the rest of the audience at the amazing performance . Percy was ecstatic, he was going to be in school alongside these uber-talented people, walking the halls with them, and he might even be dating one of them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **** I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter, I'm definitely going to continue this. Special thanks to PhantomWhispers (full-minata on tumblr) for being my beta. Yes, Piper is flirting with Percy at the beginning, but it's not because she's actually into him it'll all be explained, bear with me. Please leave a review telling me what you think!**

**Thank you,**

**Readingqueen811**

**Chapter's Song: Fame Theme; Fame Movie 2010**

Chapter 2:

Veronica dropped Percy off a couple hours before classes began so that he wouldn't cause a riot. He'd decided not to dress like he normally did when he went out in public, instead, choosing to wear just a brown hoodie over his favorite blue t-shirt and jeans. He hated to admit it to his mother as she waved goodbye to him from the limo, or even Veronica, but he was more nervous at that moment than he ever had been before seeing the premier of any of his shows. Percy took a deep breath and pushed open the glass and wood doors of Valerie Academy for the Performing Arts.

Once through the doors, he turned left into the hallway that held the Receptionist's Desk, there he found a girl about his age in a worn, brown snowboarding jacket who was listening to fairly loud music on her iPhone. He expected her to gasp or something when he sat down next to her, but she just nodded her head to the beat of the song, making the small braids throughout her choppy hair bounce up and down. Finally, she actually acknowledged his presence with a small nod towards the skateboarding logo on his t-shirt. The girl took her headphones out, pausing her music to give him her name.

"Piper McLean, Junior." She told him, with a small wave from her coppery hand.

"Percy Jackson, also Junior." He replied. Piper didn't look at all starstruck, and for a second Percy thought she may have never even heard of him until she gave him a skeptical look.

"You're that movie kid right?"

"Yeah…I guess. "

"Well don't tell anyone. Start out as a movie kid here and you'll be shunned faster than the kids whose parents are in movies, believe me, I know firsthand." Piper looked around as if there could be anyone in earshot and then whispered in his ear, "my dad's Tristan McLean, didn't go over too well when the other kids found out…"

She was about to finish her sentence, when the receptionist stuck her head out the door and called "McLean, get in here. You're supposed to be sorting papers as punishment for that prank that you and Mr. Valdez pulled last semester, not chatting up the new student." Piper didn't even blush at the receptionist's comment and proceeded to wink one of her turquoise eyes (which Percy could've sworn were brown a second ago) at him.

"Stay cool Jackson." And then she walked into the office as the receptionist stuck her head out once again and called Percy in.

After giving him his schedule (which was messily handed to her by Piper) and entering all the data that the school didn't already have into the computer, the receptionist was about to show Percy around, when she got a call from the Principal and started to hastily rush out of the room.

"Ms. Mellie?" Piper called deviously, "since you can't show Percy around, or keep an eye on me, and technically I'm supposed to be doing whatever you command, can I show him around the school? I promise I won't pull any pranks until Leo gets here…"

Ms. Mellie obviously didn't have any time to think about it, so she just threw her hands up in the air, exasperated, and said "Sure, why not, it's not like you won't do it anyway." She then scurried out of the room before she could even reconsider.

As soon as the receptionist had left, Piper somehow ended up sitting on the arm of the chair that Percy was sitting in, reading his schedule over his shoulder. "Hmm, just 5th and group together, it's a shame, I honestly thought we had chemistry…"

Percy gave her a startled expression, before Piper laughed out loud right in his face. "Oh gods, you should see your face! I thought I could keep this up but I really can't!" She nearly doubled over laughing. "I'm sorry if you thought I was flirting with you, I made a bet with Leo that I could get more new guys into me than he could girls but I just can't with you. I just can't! Friends?" He barely processed what she was saying, since he hadn't realized she was flirting with him, and he was still caught up on the fact that she had said gods, but he held out his hand to pull her up off the floor where she was still laughing anyway.

Piper pulled herself up, dusted off her light pink maxi-skirt before dragging Percy out the doors to the hallway. Percy couldn't even ask where they were going before Piper had led him through the empty hallways to the main stage where he had seen Annabeth Chase perform.

"Come on," she said, shoving him on the stage and then quickly pulling out a drum kit from backstage, "You play right?" Percy nodded his head in return, slightly confused, before she called to him, "give me a beat."

_Remember, Remember, Remember_

_Oh, Oh_

Piper started to sing, and Percy had to admit her voice was good. She sang a slow chorus of remember's to test out her voice, and then started belting out a song as Percy let out a drumroll.

_Baby look at me, and tell me what you see_

_You ain't seen the best of me yet_

_Give me time I'll make you forget the rest_

As she sang, she started improvising a dance to go along with the song. It was mostly hip-hop style and Percy couldn't help but feel jealous. He'd never been much of a dancer, and the one time he'd had to ballroom dance for a scene in a movie, he'd stepped on his partner's toes so many times they'd had to give her special foot pads. Watching Piper move around the stage, he just couldn't even begin to understand how someone could be that graceful yet still look modern and cool.

_I got more to me, and you can set it free_

_I can catch the moon in my hands_

_Don't you know who I am?_

_Remember my name, Fame!_

As she merged into the chorus, Percy began to sing the song along with her. When he was younger, Fame had been one of his favorite movies to watch with his mom. Although she'd had to fast forward some parts so his young innocent eyes wouldn't see anything, he loved the songs and the idea of being famous. Singing it now with Piper brought back memories of a musty apartment in New York, and the candy smell of his mom's apron from when she used to work at Sweet on America. He hadn't realized he was missing his pre-fame days so much.

_I'm gonna live forever_

_I'm gonna learn how to fly, High!_

_I feel it coming together_

_People will see me and cry, Fame!_

Singing on the stage with Piper felt almost like a dream. Percy didn't feel like he really was there, like Valerie Academy was in some place between his life pre-fame and his life as a star. Old memories resurfaced quickly, and as the song continued on, he felt really truly happy for the first time in a few years. Somehow the sound of his and Piper's voices echoing off the walls made him feel ten times more ecstatic than the screaming of a crowd ever had.

_I'm gonna make it to heaven_

_Light up the sky like a flame, Fame!_

_I'm gonna live forever, baby remember my name._

As they both finished the chorus, the auditorium doors creaked open to reveal a short, elfish-looking Hispanic guy who was staring at the two of them with an extremely shocked face.

"Piper!" He yelled across the aisles of seats to where Piper was standing, hands on hips as Percy stopped his drumming. "Do not tell me you are singing with another man! I thought that honor was only reserved for me and the illusive Mr. Grace!"

"It was, Leo" Piper called back, obviously teasing, "but Percy Jackson here has just swept his way into my heart!"

"Don't tell me you got started on our bet before me!" The guy, who must've been Leo joked back. "I know that you know that I'm going to blow you out of the water with my smooth girl-skills, but you didn't have to replace me!"

"Well, we didn't get to the rap part of Fame yet, that honor is still reserved for you if you are willing to let us skip a verse, Mr. Valdez."

"As it should be, Ms. Mclean, I do accept your generous offer of giving up a verse for me in exchange for your awful treachery."

"Just get up here Leo!" Piper helped pull him up onto the stage, and after a quick hello nod in Percy's direction, Leo started to rap, in the most awful impression of Collins Pennie that he had ever heard.

_Yeah, this is my life_

_See, I had a vision, was left in the cold_

_I had a story that had to be told_

_Been through hardships, I've lived and I've grown_

_And those lessons are worth more than silver and gold_

Leo and Piper started dancing together, the same hip hop style as earlier, but this time Percy could tell that they'd choreographed it earlier. Once again, he felt an immense amount of jealousy at the ease in which they were able to glide through the air. And while he kept drumming along to the music as Leo rapped and the two of them danced, there was a small feeling in his gut of being left out.

_I'm letting it go, I'm living my life_

_I see it there: my name in lights_

_I'm gonna grind and it's not a game_

_I'm gonna make sure you remember my name_

The rap part ended, and all three of them burst into the chorus together. The left-out feeling disappeared instantly as they all started singing together, with Piper doing harmonies in her soprano voice. Percy rocked out behind the drums and started moving to the music as much as he could while he was still playing, not caring what anyone thought of him for once.

_Remember my name_

_I'm gonna live forever_

_I'm gonna learn how to fly!_

_I feel it coming together_

_People will see me and cry, Fame!_

_I'm gonna make it to heaven_

_Light up the sky like a flame, Fame!_

_I'm gonna live forever…_

In the middle of the chorus, the bell rang, and Piper cursed out loud. She quickly put the drum set backstage where she'd found it, and her and Leo pulled Percy behind the curtain.

"I completely lost track of time, we're not supposed to be here." Piper whispered.

"We need to find a way to get to the cafeteria without anyone seeing us." Leo whispered back.

"Plan ninja?"

"Plan ninja activated. New guy, you go pull the curtain, and Piper will get the lights, then we've all just pretty much got to run as ninja-like as we can to the doors sneak into the cafeteria so no one will suspect anything. Got it?"

Percy nodded his head in response, although he didn't really understand why they had to do this until he heard footsteps coming towards the doors of the auditorium, and a voice yelling Valdez! McLean! Come out here cupcakes, or I swear you're going to get my baseball bat this time!

"Now!" Leo whispered, and the curtain went shut, the lights went out, and they all sneaked, although rather clumsily, out the back doors of the auditorium, through what Percy assumed were the dressing room areas, and into the hallways filled with students where they blended into the crowd effortlessly.

When they got to the cafeteria, Piper told Percy that there wasn't much time before they all had to get to class, so, she introduced him to her friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who insisted on being called by her full name. After a few giggles and nudges on the girls part, Rachel Elizabeth Dare grabbed Percy's arm and steered him through the hallways to his first class: English, since she had Math in the same hallway.

Percy had been expecting glances from his fellow students because of his celebrity status, but most of them seemed not to recognize him. What he hadn't expected were a few glances from some girls who looked like they were a little unhealthily into black, and glares from the few people who did recognize him. He sat at the back of the class, after a completely embarrassing introduction from his teacher, Mr. Windsor, so he would avoid most of the eyes of his fellow classmates. This school year was going so much more differently than he'd thought it would.

He walked into his second class of the day: Vocals Level 4 (which Leo had told him beforehand that all the students just called Vocals 4) to find the one and only Annabeth Chase sitting at the very front of the classroom on one of the desks talking to two of the other juniors who had performed with her. She still looked as beautiful as ever, even in a plain white blouse tucked into skinny jeans. Her grey eyes gleamed and her golden hair bounced around as she chatted animatedly to the other two about something or other.

As class started, their teacher, Ms. Rielly clapped her hands to get the class' attention, before calling out in an extremely monotonous voice. "Now, class, I know you all must be very excited to start this school year with all your friends," she took in a big breath of air before continuing on, "but, as always, this class has a seating chart policy and therefore everybody needs to stand up with their things and go to the back of the room so I can assign seats. Whoever you are partnered with in your double desk sets will be your vocal partner for the rest of the semester."

Annabeth Chase groaned slightly with a look at the boy and girl she was just talking to. Percy was starting to like her more and more with every move she made. Unfortunately, like every hated teacher, Ms. Reilly caught her.

"Ms. Chase, do you have a problem with my teaching style?"

"No ma'am." Annabeth replied with that perfect smile of hers, and instantly both Percy's heart and the wrath of Ms. Reilly melted. Percy noticed the latter a couple seconds after he got his heart back in the right place, and that was when he realized that Annabeth Chase had just become the one thing he hated most: a walking, talking teacher's pet. Just the thought of it made every flattering thing he'd ever thought about her walk straight out of his brain, except, maybe, her voice, and he instantly started hating her with a burning and fiery passion.

Ms. Reilly motioned to the one of the double desks in the front row and was about to call two student's names, when she noticed that, behind the row of students lined up in the back with their things, the boy and girl that Annabeth had been talking to were making out in the corner. They were so tangled up that Percy probably shouldn't have been able to tell who was who, but it was kind of obvious since the girl was extremely pale with dark hair and electric blue eyes, whereas the guy was tanned to a crisp with light blonde hair and softer, light blue eyes.

"Ms. Grace, Mr. Castellan." She started to say, interrupting their intimate moment, "Although there is no clear rule at this school banning Public Displays of Affection, it is frowned upon in this class. In Vocals Level 4, you are supposed to express your emotions through the beauty of song, not through whatever inappropriate exercises the two of you were just doing." Percy thought she might've been angry, but her voice was the same tone and rhythm the entire time she was talking, so it was hard to take her that seriously, and he ended up stifling his laughter, which earned him a glare from Annabeth, even though she herself was smirking.

"I'm afraid I am going to have to put you two together at the front of the room where I can keep my eyes on you two." Mrs. Rielly pointed to the double desk right in front of her. The couple walked toward the desk, although they still had their hands gripped together tight, so they didn't really seem to care.

Ms. Rielly assigned the rest of the pairs randomly, but as she neared toward the end of the list, both Percy and Annabeth (along with a few other kids) had not been called yet, and Percy was getting exceedingly nervous about how the whole situation turned out. And of course, since Ms. Rielly was really getting on Percy's list of awful teachers, she called them dead last, when both of them were pretty much glaring daggers at each other. They sat down together, uncomfortably close, in the double desk at the very back of the room.

As Ms. Rielly talked about the syllabus and what they were going to do that semester, Percy slowly fell asleep. You couldn't really blame him; he'd gotten up at five a.m. so he could get to school early, and he was getting really, really tired. He dreamed about walking on water across an ocean to an island where a man's voice was calling him, he only awoke when Annabeth nudged him awake, as Ms. Rielly had started coming back to their desk with the syllabus. Percy quickly jolted awake, only to find Annabeth glaring at him once again.

"You drool in your sleep; you know that, right?" She told him, pointing to the small pile of spit that had accumulated on the desk as he slept. He then heard her mumble under her breath, "Why do I always end up getting paired with the weird guys?"

Percy felt the need to defend himself, so he whispered back, "It's not like you're anything special Ms. Teacher's Pet."

"I resent that accusation."

"Well its true."

"You probably only think that because teachers don't appreciate your obviously lesser wisdom. Maybe you have something stuck inside your head."

"What makes you think you're so smart?"

"My perfect grades. I'd like to see you get all A's for even one report card pretty boy."

Percy barely heard the end of her sentence since Annabeth kind of mumbled off when she caught her friend with the black hair smirking at the two of them while wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Don't mind her," Annabeth said, suddenly flustered, "she needs to get her priorities straightened out."

"Yeah, she's the one who needs her priorities in order."

"Shut up, you."

Their bickering continued for the rest of the class. It was always in a whisper, never loud enough to attract attention, but it annoyed Percy to no end, it was like they were complete opposites and neither of them could understand anything about the other. He was extremely happy when class was over, but for some reason his heart was beating faster than usual.

His third and fourth hours flew by pretty quickly, although he did enjoy talking to Piper's friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, during his Hip Hop 1 class during third hour. She was 10x easier to talk to than Annabeth had been, and laughed along with him as he failed at every single one of the stretches that their teacher, Mr. Towler was making them do so they would be ready for the hardcore day of conditioning the next day. Not to mention, Rachel was kind of cute. Her curly red hair was tied back with an even brighter red bandana, and her personality just sparkled through her every second, like she was a locomotive that Percy couldn't, and wasn't trying to, stop. Maybe this semester wouldn't turn out as bad as his first few classes had made him think it was going to be.

**Once again, I hope you enjoyed the story. I know this chapter was a little longer than the last one, but I just had to include the first half of the day along with the song, so it really seems worth it to me. Leave a review below if you like it. Don't worry, Percabeth is still going to end up canon (after about 19 more chapters), although I'm throwing in some Perachel scenes for their shippers, and anyway don't worry too much about ships, I'm throwing in all of the ones that are/were canon/semi-canon just so it's as close to the books as possible.**

**Thank you,**

**Readingqueen811**


	3. Chapter 3

**I AM SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG. I literally don't even have an excuse for this, I just have been lazy. Well… I've also been trying to marathon young justice and cake boss but we won't talk about that… Anyway, there's a bit more Percabeth in this chapter, and some background for Annabeth and Thalia. Hope you guys enjoy it. Also, there's an 8tracks mix out for the songs I'll be using for the chapters I have mapped out so far so go check that out.**

**8tracks Mix: http;/8tracks,com/readingqueen811/the-spotlight-thief**

**Chapter's Song: Fame Theme; Liar Liar, Christina Grimmie**

Chapter 3:

**Annabeth** **Chase** was not liking how her day had been so far. First of all, there was the whole my-best-friends-are-making-out-in-the-corner thing, which had just been embarrassing, and then she had been partnered with the new guy. He was disrespectful, annoying, had a limited attention span, drooled in his sleep, and absolutely hated him. Luckily she was feeling better by lunch. She'd had Ballet 3 (her favorite class) earlier, where they had done nothing but stretch, and condition, but something about the open ballet studio had always made her feel calmer.

She sat down with Reyna at a mostly-empty table near the stage that was, by rules of the status-quo, reserved for her group of friends. "Where's Jason?" She asked her best friend Reyna, as the girl opposite from her adjusted the black braid in her hair, completely ignoring the tray of food in front of her.

"Oh, he's just talking to Ms. Nolan, trying to get his vocal group for the semester changed because he got paired with Thing One and Thing Two over there." She pointed to Piper McLean and Leo Valdez, who were sitting with the new guy at their table of misfits over by the doors of the cafeteria.

"Similar thing happened to me." Annabeth commented while blowing on a spoon of soup that was too hot to eat. "Got paired with that new kid over there," She noted the boy near the doors, "this year's going to be torture."

"He's kind of cute." Reyna teased, and then when Annabeth glared back at her, she asked, "So, what did he do?"

"Well, first of all, he laughed at Thalia and Luke's PDA lecture from Ms. Rielly, fell asleep during the syllabus speech, and _then_ he said that I'm not anything special."

"So basically he did the entire list of top ten things that boys should do to get Annabeth Chase to hate them." Thalia interrupted, sitting down with Luke. "And then they proceeded to flirt with each other for the rest of the class."

"We were _not_ flirting," Annabeth counteracted, "we were _arguing_. There's a difference."

"Sure there is." Both Thalia and Reyna proceeded to laugh.

Jason and Nico showed up with their food only a few minutes later, Jason and Reyna proceeded to mimic Thalia and Luke's previous public displays of affection, but it was a lot less disturbing to the group.

Will Solace, a member of student council, went up to the microphone on the stage and announced the lunchtime karaoke rules for the year. They were the same as always: you could sing anything you wanted to anyone you wanted, as long as you kept your movements appropriate and did not sing romantically to a teacher. Annabeth sighed and sneaked a glance over at the new kid. Percy Jackson, she thought his name was, but she wasn't sure.

Percy was sitting beside Grover Underwood and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who was putting up her full flirting game on Percy, which was doing absolutely nothing since he seemed to be quite clueless to her advances. Annabeth almost laughed at how pitiful the whole scene was, but her thoughts were interrupted by Thalia, who was holding Luke's phone in her hand and was yelling about something.

"You told me you were _sick_ last weekend, not messing around with another girl. Who even _is_ this girl, oh yeah, I remember now. It's _Silena freaking Beauregard_. So now what? Now I'm not good enough for you? Don't tell me that the captain of the _cheerleading team_ is good enough for you and I'm not. You filthy, lying, cheating…"

She was interrupted by Will Solace, asking for volunteers for the karaoke. Thalia smiled a devilish smile at Luke, before proceeding to raise her hand and yell at poor Will until he let her get on the stage.

Once she got up there, she smiled sweetly, as if the whole cafeteria had not just heard her freak out at Luke. "This is for you Luke, because I love you _so_ much, and just wanted to let you know _exactly_ how I'm feeling about you right now."

_Can't see you anymore_

_You're an inch out the door_

_Didn't know what I'd do no, now_

Thalia started to belt out the words. Annabeth had always loved her voice, it was powerful yet delicate at the same time, which made the song sound amazing. Thalia gripped the microphone stand as she closed her eyes and sang, the entire cafeteria's eyes fixated on her.

_The words have been betrayed_

_You respond and let them fade_

_And I just won't let you bring me down_

She pulled away from the stand, wireless microphone in hand, and walked dramatically down the stairs of the stage, into the crowded cafeteria. Thalia glared at Luke, and then at Silena, who didn't really seem that guilty of anything. Silena had always been sweet to everyone and it was most likely that Luke had taken advantage of that fact to get back at Thalia for something or other, still, seeing Thalia strut down the cafeteria towards Luke with her microphone in hand was kind of awesome.

_You can see what I know and I know_

_Somewhere there's a sorry heart_

_Tell me why these roads keep leading_

_Leading you right back to me_

Thalia had reached Luke by this time, and was softly belting out the words, kind of blowing everyone away. Luke was holding his phone protectively near his tight fitting orange t-shirt, but Thalia grabbed it from him with a quick jab, and started scrolling through his texts to Silena. Her face remained calm, but Annabeth could tell that she was trying as hard as possible to keep her cool.

_Liar, Liar don't cry on my shoulder_

_You played with fire and smiled when you told her_

_Whoa, oh, thought you were someone_

_Ah, oh, goodbye to no one_

She shoved the phone back at Luke, resulting in some applause from the other students around them. Meanwhile, Luke just sat there, a cocky smile on his face as if he had done nothing wrong. Silena hand her head buried in one of her co-cheerleader's shoulders, about to cry. Once again, Annabeth couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her.

_So break away the touch of bliss you miss so much _

_But I won't tell you to come back home_

_Emotions dissipate; Is love designed to hate?_

_Keep on driving away from here_

Thalia traced her finger around Luke's palm, before also letting go of his hand and slowly walking back towards the stage. Annabeth could tell she was just being dramatic, but most of the new kids were staring at Thalia in awe, as if this wasn't a common occurrence that happened at least once a month. Luke would do something, Thalia would freak out in a crowd of people, end up singing about it to the entire room, Luke wouldn't even apologize, and they'd end up sucking face the next day. That's just how their completely dysfunctional relationship worked.

_Eye the rain as it falls in your hands_

_Will there be another storm?_

_Tell me why these roads keep leading_

_Leading you right back_

By this time, Thalia had reached the microphone stand again, and her eyes were closed as she sang the words. She was pretending to be a lot more hurt than she actually was. Annabeth knew Thalia's acting talents were pretty good, but not good enough to fool her best friend. She could practically feel the rush that Thalia got from performing, the high that a crowd and a microphone gave her. There was no way that she was actually as upset as her voice would have the crowd believe as she launched into another chorus.

_Liar, Liar don't cry on my shoulder_

_You played with fire, and smiled when you told her_

_Whoa, oh, thought you were someone_

_Ah, oh goodbye to no one_

Thalia started stomping her feet in seeming frustration while she belted out the bridge. There was real anger in her words, but Annabeth knew that, especially this part of the song, it was more directed at her and Jason's distant mother and absent father, who had, together, caused Thalia to more or less raise Jason on her own. As her voice got softer, Annabeth could feel the hurt that she had seen in Thalia's eyes so often when she'd talk about her mother. Thalia _craved_ the attention from her peers that her parents had never given her, and so, when given the opportunity, she'd make as big a scene as possible to try to get it.

_I don't need to know you'll be there_

_You're not on my mind_

_I don't need to know you care_

_Please don't waste my time_

Her voice was softer now that she was sure that the entire cafeteria was listening. She reached a hand out, finger pointed at Luke for dramatic affect, as she sang the last chorus. Annabeth looked over to Percy Jackson, who was sitting near the door, his mouth aghast at the supreme talent of Thalia Grace. Annabeth snickered to herself, _that'll show him to underestimate us_. Looking once more at his face, she knew she recognized it from somewhere, although she just didn't quite remember where it was from.

_Liar, Liar don't cry on my shoulder_

_You played with fire and smiled when you told her_

_Oh, Liar, Liar don't cry on my shoulder_

_You played with fire and smiled when you told her_

_Whoa, oh, thought you were someone_

_Ah, oh, goodbye to no one_

_Whoa, oh, thought you were someone_

_Ah, oh, goodbye to no one_

Everyone at their table stood up and cheered violently as she finished the song. Slowly, the rest of the cafeteria got over their shock too, and started applauding Thalia's way-too-dramatic performance. As she ran back down to their table to give Luke a quick kiss on the cheek to let him know that she wasn't actually _that_ mad at him, Jason patted her on the back.

"I've got to give it to you this time, sis," He told her, "you sure know how to start off the year."

After lunch, Annabeth had English, which wasn't that bad since she had it with Reyna. Nothing really happened except for going over the syllabus, which was contrary to what happened in her fifth hour study hall. Once again, seats were assigned, and she ended up right in front of the infamous Percy Jackson. She didn't really have any homework, but she wanted to avoid another conversation with him, so she went over the syllabuses she was given from each class earlier. History, Vocals 4, Math, and Ballet. None of them were really that interesting since her teachers had pretty much gone over everything the syllabus said in class, yet still she lingered for a moment over her ballet one, smoothing the pages over as she grazed through it again.

Ballet had always been her escape, ever since she was three when her parents got divorced and her mother left her. Her mother, Athena Chase, had made her do ballet at first, to get her out of the house, but when the divorce happened, Annabeth started to practice more and more, thinking it would make her stay. It didn't, and after she'd left, she started dancing as a way to connect, always pushing herself further and further into the dance until she'd been moved up two levels and asked to perform a small part in the San Francisco Ballet Company's version of Giselle. When she'd gotten onstage to perform, she'd seen her mother for the first time in five years and suddenly all the practice was worth it.

That night her mother had had a long talk with her father about some big school in New York, where Annabeth could be able to improve her talent immensely and be close to her at the same time. They pretended that they hadn't been fighting, but Annabeth could hear them yelling through the floorboards in her room. All the lights had been on that night, because when her parents fought the spiders came for her. Even now, Annabeth wasn't sure whether those spiders had been real or a figment of her overactive imagination, but they showed up in all of her worst memories.

Anyway, after hours of discussion both her parents came up to her room and Annabeth pretended she was sleeping. They "woke her up" to tell her that, in a few years, when she'd be in 5th grade, she'd be moving to New York to go to a special school for special dancers and she'd live with her mom, etc. From then on, Annabeth's life had been all about ballet. She _had_ to practice because she _had_ to get into that school because she _had_ to see her mom again. And so, two years later, Annabeth had been accepted into Valerie Academy, and quickly become one of the best en pointe dancers in the school. Her mom was rarely home so that part of the equation had been somewhat disappointing, but now she felt like she was making her mother proud.

These were the thoughts that circled through Annabeth's mind as she re-read the Ballet syllabus, at least, until Percy Jackson started poking her with his pencil. She turned around, purposely trying to whip him in the face with her hair.

"_What_?" She asked him, her voice filled with her annoyance.

"Do we have any homework for vocals?"

Annabeth had to resist the urge to roll her eyes or slap him. "_Hmm, let me think."_ She started sarcastically, "_Well, all we talked about in class is the syllabus so.._ NO."

"Jeez, Miss Smarty Pants, you don't have to get upset about it. I get that your one true love is homework, but I'm sure he'll come back to you soon."

This time, she smacked him over the head with her Vocals 4 syllabus, earning the both of them a glare from Mrs. Poole, their study hall supervisor. Annabeth gave her the signature teacher-pleasing smile and she turned away from them. Unfortunately, the smile did not work on Percy, who continued to glare at her and rub his head. Annabeth rolled her eyes; he was totally overreacting. She didn't hit him _that_ hard.

Annabeth went back to studying her syllabus, while Percy perused the collection of yearbooks from past years on a shelf near their desks. Annabeth didn't look back, knowing there were pictures of her from 5th grade and other mortifying years was embarrassing enough, but having Mr. Annoying Jackson look at them was another thing. Maybe if she pretended they weren't of her…

"So, little Miss Perfect," Percy started from behind her, Annabeth groaned inwardly, hoping he wasn't going to ask about any of her pictures, "if you're so _perfect_, why don't you have a boyfriend?" She was shocked at the question, and a tiny part of her brain that she rarely ever listened to told her he might be flirting with her, but she pushed the thought from her mind before it could take hold.

"Too many boys in my life already, _besides_, as you are making a fine example of, there isn't anyone here who I actually would…"

"You sure about that?" He asked, "because there's a picture in last year's yearbook of you and Luke Castellan…"

"Okay, okay I know that happened, but…" Annabeth lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in towards him so she could faintly smell saltwater even though they were nowhere near the ocean, "Thalia won't believe me about what happened between us, I guess she needs him too much."

"Wait… what _did_ happen?"

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out." She responded, although her teasing-bordering-on-angry tone from earlier was gone, replaced with a soft whisper, and for a moment she felt on the verge of breaking down. Then it disappeared as she retorted, "What about _you_ Mr. California? You have a girlfriend back home or did she dump you as soon as she found out you were no longer surfer boy material?"

"Hey!"

The banter continued back and forth quietly for the rest of the period. Annabeth made sure to keep her emotions in check. She'd promised herself never to talk about that night ever again… some things just were too painful to talk about.

Broadways 2, her seventh hour class, went by fairly quickly, and Annabeth was ready to head home until she heard the voice of Chiron, the Vice Principal, over the intercom.

"Students, do not forget that you have period 9 today, since Monday is Group Day for Juniors and Seniors. Please report to your Group Leader's room next hour, thank you." Annabeth inwardly groaned yet again, she'd been dreading group for years now. Basically, all the teachers came up with this _brilliant_ idea that, since the Seniors and Juniors already have developed talents, that they should use them to sing and dance about their feelings like they're in High School Musical or something. She _couldn't wait_.

**So, that was the first Annabeth chapter, tell me what you think about her relationships with the other characters, her background, any of your thoughts really, anything you have to say on the subject of this story. Your reviews are lovely and really help me!**


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